


A Daemon Named Achilles

by Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Blood and Injury, Daemons, F/M, Hermione Granger-centric, Multi, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:13:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27839671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492/pseuds/Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492
Summary: Alternate Deathly Hollows -In a world where your soul is outside of your body, Hermione Granger is simply trying to end the continuous war within Wizarding Britian, and with the war worsening by the day...she doesn't want to consider what she is willing to do to end it. Even if it means that sacrifices must be made.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, mentions of Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	A Daemon Named Achilles

_Hermione settles at the start of second year._

_She knows that the timing is appropriate, for both her age and the setting, though it doesn't change the small bit of knowledge that when she last stepped off of the train her daemon had been an otter. It had been the last form that her parents had seen. The form he had taken when they had been sorted. They had both grown quite fond of the form among the many that they tended to take, and there was even a small part of her that dreamed they would keep the form forever. Only they hadn't had they?_

_The strawberry leopard before her was almost too large when sitting beside her. A comically large daemon for a girl her age with pale green eyes that almost appeared silver._

_"I happen to like what we settled as." Achilles speaks, breaking her from her thoughts._

_"Well you're certainly no lion." Hermione remarks back, giving him a slight jab with her wand._

_Typical Gryffindors who had yet to settle sometimes took the form of lions. A few older ones who had settled into the form tended to boast around the halls for matching their house mascot._

_Hermione and Achilles had tried it once when they had one the house cup in what could only be accounted for as some sense of pride. Now though, she wasn't sure what the rest of her classmates would say. Harry and Ron had not settled, but the spectacle of watching Hermione settle before them on the train had left an odd sense of tension that can only come from the young._

_When they had gathered in the great hall, Draco and his gang of Slytherin friends had waltzed over to their table, remarking on how Harry had yet to settle and Ron probably wouldn't at this rate. Achilles growled from beneath the table and Hermione watched as they sulked off._

_"Don't listen to them. Everyone is bound to settle in our grade, if not, the latest would be the beginning of next year." It's logical, the educational, rational response, but it doesn't stop the flare of red on Ron's face._

_"Draco is just trying to unnerve you lot. Heard his daemon settled over the summer. I imagine his father wasn't too happy." Fred shifted slightly, his crow daemon perched along his shoulder. Harry's Antigone bristles at the knowledge, shifting from a ferret to a pine marten._

_"Why would that be?" He asks and Fred only seems to grin wider._

_"Malfoy's always have snake daemons. Draco settled as a cat. The first one in his family in so long. He's bound to be a disgrace."_

_"Well good for him." Ron comments, his Rosemary huffing next to him._

_"Good for him."_

* * *

"Good for him? You can't possibly be serious! You know what will happen if we lose any more safe houses!" Hermione can feel her throat go hoarse and dry as the words leave her mouth. A last ditch effort that turned into a cry upon her lips though it doesn't change the looks upon Kingsley and Moody's faces. 

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I truly am." Kingsley tells her with a look that is as pitiful as it is annoyed. His daemon, a rhodesian ridgeback, gives her a more careful look before the pair walk away.

"It's no use, Hermione." Achilles pulls gently at her sleeve. Tugging her back to the earth in a way that makes her wish things were different. "We will have patients to tend to. The dead." 

"And if our friends die?" 

Achilles looks at her, pierces through her very being, "Well we haven't been the greatest friend have we? We will do what we always do. What we must do." 

The Daily Prophet is cast before her desk where Moody had dropped it. _'Dark Lord Passes Third Law'_ is marked in dark ink with a photo of Lucius Malfoy handing off a new law to be presented throughout the Ministry. The first one to be passed had been the _Muggle Registration Act_ to account for any muggle born or half blood that would taint Voldemort's new world. The second had been a daemon registration to catalogue all daemons for the _'sake of security'_ the paper had read. For a soul could not be changed by polyjuice potion or any sort of disguise spell. There were only a few cases where one's daemon would shift after settling, and it certainly wasn't enough to help the Order. 

This new law though was prohibiting any assistance to the Order as an act of working with terrorists. They were cutting down harder and harder on regulations with each passing month. Another cut against them that would be difficult to fight back. It was why Kingsley had informed her they would need her moved to one of their last safe houses where medical assistance could be provided while they kept Harry and Ron on the eastern front. 

It was nothing more than another effort to try to keep some form of footing in the war. Though despite everyone believing that love would conquer all in the end...Hermione was less than optimistic. The practicalities of their side was as stark as ink on parchment when she ran calculations. The statistic kept lowering in their favor, and the morale seemed to taint like a virus. 

"If you need I can handle the next round." 

Looking up, Hermione finds the outcasted form of Neville and Kinvara standing before the doorway. 

"With how things are going they may need both of us." She doesn't want to admit it. Not _really_ , but more often than not the beds are full before the next update comes. 

"There is talk that Malfoy has been leading raids. We both know what that means." Neville sets the two shot glasses before her. Covering the side article with descriptions of the executed outside the ministry's walls. 

"We blame you for showing us muggle whiskey." Kinvara goes from Neville's shoulder to a metal perch tucked away behind her desk. There is still humor in her tone. A light sparkle that is not seen often in daemons within the Order nowadays. 

"Let's get started on these medical reports, shall we?" Neville offers his hand before taking the seat from infront of her makeshift desk. The unreported injuries and deaths sit on the edge against broken quills and stained paper. Hermione finds it difficult to brush it off for later as she sets herself down. _There won't be time later_ , she reminds herself, pulling out the half-empty bottle of muggle whiskey that had once belonged to her father. 

"Is he still shifting?" 

The question jolts her, the bottle nearly slipping from her fingers, before she can place it down upon the unfinished wood. 

"In a way, ever since that day in the manor," Hermione can feel the heavy pressure in her chest. The small amount of anxiety that threatens to consume her if she let's it. 

"Achilles hasn't been the same since." 

Neville matches her gaze, nodding to either himself or to her, before his hand reaches for his own glass. 

"Well, cheers to the war. May we live to see it again tomorrow, and may our souls find peace." 

She finds it hard to clink her glass against his, but when she looks over at Achilles...the bearded vulture simply nods back. 

" _Cheers._ "

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons:
> 
> Hermione & Achilles: Leopard / Bearded Vulture 
> 
> Neville & Kinvara: Australian Fire Hawk 
> 
> Flashback:
> 
> Harry & Antigone: Ferret / Pine Martin (unsettled)
> 
> Ron & Rosemary: Unmentioned (unsettled)
> 
> Fred & Allie: Raven (settled)


End file.
